Monday, March 26, 2007

Coming Back, but Slowly - Part Two

Further on today's story:

I've been knitting and knitting, in between marathon sessions of woefully checking my email every hour and some necessary hermiting with books. I think I've finished at least 4, Nora Roberts' Carolina Moon and Northern Lights, Jeffrey Deaver's The Twelfth Card and Perri O'Shawnessy's Motion to Suppress; there may have been one or two others. I read pretty fast.

Now, you all will remember that I am really bad at getting A Round Tuit when it comes to weaving in ends and seaming. Though I do feel pretty darned good about the mattress stitch I did in garter stitch the other day. And I love 3-needle bind-offs, enough to frog some rows to avoid mattress stitching instead.

That said, here are some *nearly* finished objects. I don't remember if one or two of these were previously posted, so bear with me. Here we have a charity baby cardi. This is made from Red Heart's Fiesta and trimmed with Encore in a lovely deep bluey-green. There will be another cuff in Encore, and I think I'll run a row of single crochet around the fronts and neckline in the same solid blue. The pattern is from Lion Brand and is designed to be done in garter stitch, all in one piece beginning at the back hem. I decided to pick up and knit the cuffs afterward. The pattern calls for about 400 yards of DK or worsted, and the singleton skein of Fiesta had only 300, so I devised the accents in the Encore solid.This is a beginning of the same baby cardi, done this time in James Brett's Marble acrylic yarn, color Fern (I think). Just to be me, I'm doing this primarily in stockinette with garter stitch trim at the hemline and shoulders, with the cuffs again knitted on at the end. I bought this yarn a while back from Stitches from the Heart's LYS in Santa Monica, and I didn't like it at first, but I like the texture in stockinette and the color changes are terrific.

I've 'nearly' finished my Elizabeth Zimmerman Ribwarmer vest. This is Cascade's Cloud 9 50%wool/50%angora yarn. BTW, WEBS has this on closeout - it's a wonderful yarn and it's going fast; some colors are already gone from this morning. Somehow all the yarn ends that couldn't be spit-spliced ended up at the point where the two collar halves join, and those need to be woven before I can seam the collar. This took 4 skeins of Cloud 9 (400 yards) on US 6? 7? I love the way the short-row shaping makes this fit.

I'm really pleased with this project (yep, ends need weaving!). This is the Blue Sky Alpaca Cropped Cardi, done in Elann's Super Tweed Yarn in Victorian Blue. This was one fast knit, let me tell you, an entire new speed record for me. I started this last Sunday, even though I had only 2 skeins of the yarn but ordered more from Elann; those skeins arrived on Wednesday and I finished this in time to show it off to my SnB group on Friday. Yeah, OK, I stayed up *really* late. Snicker. This took 5 skeins (500yds) with very small leftovers. I like the yarn, which is wool, cotton, acrylic and stretchy nylon; there are thick and thin strands, the colors change but not in any pattern, and I think the cardi will be just perfect for summer evenings. Note to anyone else: the front bands are written to be 2 stitches wide; make them 4 or 5 and save yourself the hassle of stockinette curl.

Finally, this is REALLY a FINISHED OBJECT!! These are socks for DH, knitted in KnitPicks's 100% merino Memories sock yarn in the Cape Cod colorway. I knitted the heels with a wooly nylon reinforcing thread just to see how it changes the wear, if any. I finished them on March 8 and he wore them that Friday; the closeup shows that there is already a bit of felting going on at the heels. But the other pair I made him from this yarn, back in 2005, while having felted at heel and sole, still looks just fine and I can't find any thinning spots. That may have something to do with the fact that I don't do hand-laundry for socks very often, lol, so he may have only worn them 10 times or so.

I've joined the KAL for the Moonlight Sonata Shawl, a new free pattern at Elann. The pattern was designed by Shui Kuen, one of the most talented knitters who regularly post at the Elann Chat Center. SK has also designed the Garden Path Shawl and the Sun Ray Shawl, as well as the Leaf and Acorn Lace Scarf all free at Elann. I'm doing this in Elann's Baby Cashmere yarn, in the Starlight Blue color; this color is sold out right now, but it's a rather pale greeny-blue. I liked the coincidence of finding this color, with this name, in stash. Yay, KFTS! (Knitting From The Stash) I'm only on Row 2, and since I haven't yet finished anything except socks that is knitted with fingering weight yarn, it's going to be a challenge.

You may recall that JenLa had a contest for the cutest paws. Midnight was entered, and felt confident that her 'Elegant Pawsitude'

would put her in the winning. As it happens, Wendy Johnson entered Lucy, who was a sentimental favorite and knocked Middy out of the final round. Lucy didn't win, but Midnight wants her to know there are no hard feelings. Although I notice she does tend to ignore Lucy's pictures.

So. Glad. You're. Back! Great FO's (and almost FO's hah). Thanks for the info on the Super Tweed..that yarn is on the wish list for next yarn purchase (after another 1000yds or so are out of the stash of course). I guess I coulda/shoulda emailed you more while your blog was down..hindsight and all...but i'm doing a total happy dance that you are back!

Whew, you've been busy. So much knitty news, I don't know where to begin. I love how your BSA Cropped Cardi has turned out. And you're not kidding - you zoomed on that thing. DH's socks look great, and oh la la, that EZ vest in wool/angora looks so snuggly.

Have fun in your new KAL, and scritches to regal Midnight. It's good she's being so gracious.

That last picture is hilarious! And you have been incredibly productive (maybe we should all have blogging timeouts once in a while). I hope to join the Moonlight Sonata knitters soon, I think I'll use the BC again too - can't get enough of it :). Nice to have you back!